......Alaska huh..............cool......... :(

I just realized that once again i forgot my camera!!!!

OK SO WHAT IN THE FREAKING WORLD IS GOING ON WITH YOU GUYS GOING TO ALASKA!!!!!!!!!!!  AHHHHHH!!!!! That is my dream!!!!!  I have wanted to go to Alaska ever since i was in second grade and now they get to live the dream!  Yes once again i know i am in france but still you are so lucky! Send me pictures and lots of them! I am so jealous but its all good i guess and Hunter is intimidatingly huge but still you guys are so lucky!  It sounds like things back home are still kicking like normal!  I miss you guys alot and i miss just hanging out around the brothers like i used to.  Mom and dad i miss you a ton too and i miss everything you did for me back home.  I guess the only good part about hunter being enormous is that i will get all of his clothes when i get home in JUST OVER A YEAR!!!!  Hunter is massive and it is driving me nuts! Any way thank you for everything and mom getting me the new shoes and all that those will work out great!  Also this transfer ends july 18th just so you all know.  I might being staying a 4th because of some big things that are now happening that i will explain in a moment!  :) So Connor is Playing football huh?  That will be so much fun!  Mom you don't have to worry about him getting hurt because the only the people who play on the line get hurt.  The running backs and the wide receivers are the studs and have nothing to worry about! Connor is so awesome.  Omg that kid seizes to amaze me!  Dad asked me about the gift of tongues and i haven't had any real gift of tongues moments except for the fact that i learned french in about 12 weeks.  I am really speaking near perfect french the only thing lacking is the vocab but that comes slowly.  I can literally understand anyone though so no worries there.  I can't believe that i hit my 11 Month mark tomorrow!  That is incredible and after that the countdown begins until i get to see you all again!!!!

So Updates about Limoges.  I want you to all know that your prayer efforts have been answered and that our efforts are finally paying off for the better.  Jeff and Pascal both have Baptismal dates now! Pascal is fixed for the 15th of JULY!!!!!!!!!!  I will be baptizing him i think!  Hopefully he will have a member do it because that would be better in the long run but when we fixed the date with him he said it is really important to me that you are there for the baptism Jonathan.  So i just am so touched by that and his story is an incredible miracle!  The Book of Mormon has TRANSFORMED a Homosexual, Depressed, Agnastostic, into a Straight as an arrow, Up beat, hopeful, believer in Christ!  I love Pascal so much and his transformation has come through and by the Book of Mormon.  Oh it makes me so happy.  JEFF!!!  We fixed a date with him for the 13th of August.  I think that all will be well with him he just needs to find that firm testimony in the Book of Mormon that will change his life like pascals!!  So yes he is now in line to do that.  Other miracles are happening and i am so happy to be a part of them here in Limoges.  Limoges is still my least favorite of all the Villes i have served in But the work is continual and it makes up for my dislike of how limoges looks.  Yeah that is the only reason i am not of fan of Limoges is the feel of the Ville but in general it is ok and i am loving the work.  So yes that is Limoges for the moment.  It has been getting really hot out here.  The only thing that toughens my up is saying well i could be in arizona right now!  Hahahaha seriously that heat is so gnarly!  Any way well that is all that i have to write about today.  I look forward to hearing from you all soon.  I love you all so much!

Love Elder Hoopes

So ok what is up with Connor just picking up and flying out to philly! that
is so ridiculous!!! but understandable.... Happy birthday Connor! Oh
Goodness.... You're 15 now!!! That is so fun. I was telling everyone out
here that it was your birthday in Limoges! HAHAHAHAI think i am gonna to
start hearing about a lot of just pick up and go trips. You guys are so
lucky. I Am lucky to be in france but it is almost just like living a
normal life here and just going out to work everyday. It is weird i think
that this week i really hit an interesting point out here. I have forgotten
and don't know how to distinguish reality anymore. I know it sounds crazy
but honestly. I do so many bizzare things, talk to some incredibly strange
people, i am living on my own, i am changing the lives of others, studying
and trying my best to become better with God, just our day to day activities
are so unique it doesn't feel real. But on the other side of things i had
my life and everything before it and i am always thinking about that. Waking
up is the worst because i wake up from dreams of home and dreams of me
interacting with people from both worlds of my universe. It is just so
strange i really can't express it clearly. Next month on the 28th i hit my
year mark on my mission. OMG!!!! I have been living in France this whole
time wow.... I really miss everyone. I miss back home a lot. It doesn't
help not getting many letters from friends anymore but that comes as you are
on the mission i suppose. I love hearing from the family. Mom and dad your
emails are so good for me. Thank thank thank you. But i think you know
what i am trying to say. I feel so far away!!!!

Anyway on to brighter things. Today has been fun. at 10:30 we went to the
Church and we played Ping Pong for 4 hours..... I am very sore i must say.
I have gotten so good. I never really played until this transfer and i have
only been practicing with him and he is incredible but already we are
playing so competitively!!!! It rocks! Also just as news i am staying
another one here in Limoges with Elder Awerkamp. It will be great. It is
so much fun with him. So yeah he will be my first companion for more than
one transfer. So yeah and my other favorite elder in our district will stay
Elder Barker. Also on saturday as you can see from the photos we got
destroyed by a pigeon!!!! Omg! It literally exploded on us. So yeah there
is the debris and shrapnel from the blast. Also i included a picture of Pas
De Guerre. Pas de guerre in french means against war or not for war.
Everytime he talks to us at the parting moment he says to us,...."pas de
guerre" I don't know if he even has a name. I asked if we could take a
picture with him and he said "no, no, no it's not necessary" so i snuck this
picture while we were in the park and we saw him in the distance. Ha but
yeah hahaha. Ummmm

Ok so our amis are doing well. We are really wanting a baptism here so we
are really going to get more serious about the things we teach and also our
boldness. It is necessary and also i need to tighten up the loose screzzs
and be more obedient. Elder Awerkamp isn't the most obedient like he isn't
bad just very chill and sometimes i get to chill or just disregard the
rules. I really am trying to be good just sometimes i am not on my game
1000 percant you know. Anyway that is Limoges right now. Mom thank you for
the rust remover it worked wonders!!!!! I love you all so much and i hope
to hear from you soon! à bientot tchiao!

Elder Hoopes

This is Pas de Guerre, our favorite hobo

Well Hi!

So i am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My comp is so legit and absolutely
hilarious! He knows so many people i know and he loves like all the same
things as me just not as annoying as some as my past comps! He is so cool!
He is so happy to be in limoges and he wants to get working and so that is
fun! This transfer is going to fly by! He is so fun! It was nice to go
into Paris and to pick him up! Paris is so nice! Also i Got Smart PERSON
GLASSES! 9 Bucks at CHATELET!!!!! LOL so the pick up went well with him
but the funny thing is that he actually grabbed someone elses luggage so we
then had to go to Orleans to drop off that other Elder's bag and then we
will be going to Tours tommorrow after District meeting in Potiers to get
his bag! So yeah it was a funny mix up! It has made for a lot of
travelling! But it is fun also! Then this Weekend end we are going to
Angers for our Zone Conference! So yeah that is that!

Ha we are doing good work already and he speaks a good amount for someone in
there fourth transfer. Last week since the time he got in we taught 9
lessons. That was more lessons than all the lessons he had taught in his
last area in two transfers! We are being so blessed and having him is
really opening my eyes to how incredibly blessed we are. WE are teaching so
many lessons and are finding people left and right and they are all so
cool. The people here are really open and the members liked me more than i
thought they did. It can be tough just walking into a ward who just came
from having bad elders. So things are going good. We are having a good
time. It is crazy to think that we are already in May. Can you believe
it!? I am still trying to wrap my head around it! I hit my 9 month mark
last week and it was a pretty cool moment i must say. I hit my year mark
not to far according to missionary time which i am convinced moves at an
incredible rate! Ha so good.

We just got done teaching two lessons before coming to do emails. We are so
tired. It is our P-day! We want some rest but its ok! I would rather have
this area on fire than to have it struggling to breath like when i first
came here. We are so grateful for these blessings. I can't even explain
it. I dont want to sound prideful because lets face it we still dont have
any baptismal dates or anything like that but we are definately trying to
help our amis get to that point. But just the fact of finding people and
having a chance to teach these people is so incredible to me i must admit.
WE are the busiest i have been so far on my mission and even though i am
young and still trying to figure everything that we need to do i am loving
it! WE are having to organize people by priority! Before we just searched
and searched and would teach anyone and i mean anyone! I have walked into
homes so ignorantly having no idea what to expect so many times. I'd say
here in limoges only 40 percent of the time they are crazy or Pyshcotic. Oh
how the Lord watches over us! LOL!

Not much has changed with us and our amis except that Dieu-Merci-Michel
loves me so much! Ha he is so funny! Late to all our rendez-vous but
funny! I asked him if he had read the introduction and testimonies in the
book of mormon and he just goes "Jonathan.......i'm sorry......but i can't
lie to you.....you are my brother and a servant of God....and i'm sorry. I
didn't read" LOL!!!! I thought it was hilarious! He was about to cry! Ha
oh Dieu-Merci! He is so humble and tries so hard to follow the
commandments! He is so good. Ha we were just like dude its cool like
seriously you are just about the same as everyone we teach! Oh this guy! So
yeah! We also Found two new people Jeff and Pascal. They are both french
which is a change! ha but yeah things are going good! We also just got a
referral from salt lake! How cool! So yeah good things are happening!

So yeah that is my week! I will try calling around 11:15 your time. I
might figure something else out possibly Skpe but i don't know. We will
figure it out. It dad wants to call through skpe and everything if he is
out of town our number without the Country code is 06.71.00.26.07. I hope
that works you can call me for free but if i call you i have to pay money
for a phone card. So how about this! Call ME AT 11:15 YOUR TIME. THAT WILL
BE AROUND 8:15p.m here! I will try to find a place to skpe but if we can't
we will just have to settle for a phone call. We'll see. I am going to
email a little later in the week to find out if i can skpe! Sorry Mom i
know you have to sleep....

So ok! Thank you dad for sending all the videos of everyone! I loved
them! and hunter your pics are so sick....not tacos....haha JK! Also mom
for dinners members feed us occasionally. Every tuesday we eat with a
british family in the ward, who we teach french to. So yeah and also about
the Package i sent i went to go see where it was and the stupid french gave
me the wrong post info so it returned back to Cherbourg. Elder Paul sent it
to you guys for me last Wednesday! I hope you get it soon! Well i love
you all so much and i'll talk to you this weekend! Love YOu!

Elder Hoopes